Improvement in needle setters and threaders for sewing-machines



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. ALBERT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN NEEDLE SETl'ERS AND THREADERS FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 139,990, dated June 17, 1873; application filed May 9, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES F. ALBERT, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented a Sewing-Machine Needle Setter and Threader, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is a simple de vice for setting and threading sewing-machine needles; and the device consists of a light metal needle-holder, A, shown in the enlarged elevation, Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing, formed with notched flanges a and b, at its opposite ends for the reception of the needle B, and having a hooked pin, d, which passes through the eye of the needle, and a spring arm or handle, 6, which enters the groove in the side of the same, thus retaining the needle in a certain predetermined position upon the holder, so that when the latter is held against the needle-arm, as shown, the needle will be properly adjusted or set, and

may be at once secured by a set-screw and the holder withdrawn. The hooked guiding and retaining pin 01 serves the purpose of a threader in withdrawing the holder from the needle, as shown in the enlarged sections Figs. 2 and 3. j In using the device, it is held between the thumb and finger of one hand by means of its spring arm or handle e, while with the other hand the needleis passed downward through the notch of the upper flange a, and beneath the bent end of the said spring-arm, the needle being turned until this bent end enters its groove f, as shown in Fig. 1, in the edge view, Fig. 4., and in the enlarged section, Fig. 5, of the drawing. This insures the proper lateral position of the needle in respect to the holder, and its proper longitudinal position is determined by the hooked pin, d, which is caused to pass through the eye of the said needle, as shown.

The needle is now rigidly retained upon the holder, and can be much more conveniently handled and adjusted to the needle-arm than when simply held between the thumb and fin ger, as usual.

The holder, moreover, when adjusted to the needle-arm, as shown, serves as a gage for determining the exact longitudinal and lateral position of the needle in respect to the said arm, so that none of the usual delicate and tedious adjustments are required, all that is necessary being to fasten the needle by means of its set-screw, and to then withdraw the holder from the same.

When the work to be operated on by the sewing-machine is of a heavy character, it is necessary to set the needle outward to a slight extent sufficient to compensate for the extra thickness of the material. I accomplish this by providing the holder with an arm or plate, a, hinged to the flange a, as shown, and arranged to be turned around upon the said flange, so as to serve as a gage for the needle in place of the'latter, thus preventing the said needle from being inserted into the recess in the arm to as great an extent as before.

The hooked pin 01 not only serves as a retain er and guide for the needle, but as a threading device for the same, it being only necessary to hook the loop of thread y over the pin, as shown in Fig. 2, and to then separate the pin and needle, as seen in Fig. 3, when the said loop will be drawn through the eye of the needle, and thus effect the threading of the latter.

I prefer to use the spring-arm e in carrying out my invention; but it might in some instances be dispensed with.

The pin 11 might also be plain instead of hooked, if it was not desired to combine a threading device with the needle-setter.

' I claim as my invention- 1. The combined needle holder and thread er, consisting of a flanged plate, A, notched at b, spring e, and hooked pin d, arranged as set forth.

2. The combination, with the said holder, of a pivoted arm, a, for the purpose specifled.

In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

C. F. ALBERT. Witnesses:

WM. A. STEEL, HUBERT HowsoN. 

